This advanced public economics course is designed to reach the highest level of academic rigour. It is mathematically intensive and builds on the mathematical preparation required for entry into the Economics Honours program. The course will also include coding exercises, though no prior programming experience is assumed. We will explore the role governments should play in the economy, with the goal of strengthening your ability to understand, extend, and communicate foundational models and analytical tools. Topics include the philosophical foundations of public economics, welfare analysis, key empirical patterns, labour income and consumption taxation, externalities, social welfare functions, capital taxation, and behavioural public finance.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Identify, explain and analyze the fundamental rationales for government intervention.
- Understand, specify, solve and make meaningful extensions to frontier models of taxation (including optimal taxation).
- Obtain and use data to quantitatively implement models of optimal policy, integrating them with mathematical solutions.
- Rigorously communicate economic intuition to a broad range of audiences orally and in written form, extracting precise intuition from the math.
- Read and formally synthesise theoretical and empirical economic literature in recent economic journals.
Indicative Assessment
- Typical assessments may include but is not restricted to in-class exercises, written and oral assignments, quizzes, examinations, group project tasks, oral presentation, and other assessment deemed appropriate to show attainment of the learning outcomes set for the course. Further details will be made available via the Class Summary. (100) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
130 hours in total over the semester consisting of lectures, tutorials and private study time.
Inherent Requirements
Students in this course are required to have the ability to communicate to individuals and a broader audience in oral and written formats.
Prescribed Texts
See Class Summary.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 34
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2026 | $5520 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2026 | $7020 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
First Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2418 | 23 Feb 2026 | 02 Mar 2026 | 31 Mar 2026 | 29 May 2026 | In Person | View |